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Résumé magic trade secrets of a professional résumé writer

A giant compendium of advice and before-and-after resume transformations explains resume creation and illustrates professional techniques with actual examples that show why the techniques work. All of the tricks professional resume writers use to create eye-catching, result-driven resumes are reveal...

Full description

Main Author: Whitcomb, Susan Britton, 1957-
Format: Books Print Book
Language: English
Published: Indianapolis, IN : JIST Works, c2010.
Edition: 4th ed.
Subjects:
Seibel, Sophie Stein tribute
Résumés (Employment)
Online Access: Go to Downloadable eBook Here.
Table of Contents:
  • 1. A résumé primer
  • Tools for the task
  • The résumé tool : asset or liability?
  • Employers and candidates usually view résumés as having different purposes
  • You need to do more than write a résumé to get a job
  • A résumé is most effective when it follows face-to-face or voice contact with a hiring manager
  • A support person or computer program will probably be the one to screen your résumé
  • Résumés are not read thoroughly
  • You won't always need a résumé to land a job
  • Then why write a résumé?
  • And why this book?
  • Some success stories
  • Your most important tool
  • Top 10 tips to create résumé magic
  • 2. How to use branding and advertising strategies to get an interview
  • Elements of your career brand
  • Authentic image
  • Advantages
  • Awareness
  • The proven ad agency formula
  • Step 1 : how to grab your reader's attention
  • Headlines and hard-hitting leads
  • Visual appeal
  • Step 2 : how to capture your reader's interest
  • Selling points
  • front and center
  • Where's the center of the page?
  • Place supporting information below the visual center
  • Skimmable material goes at the bottom of the page
  • Step 3 : how to create desire for your product
  • you!
  • Why you buy
  • Why employers buy
  • Prove your superiority
  • Step 4 : call to action
  • Top 10 résumé strategy tips
  • 3. How to choose the most flattering format to support your résumé strategy
  • Two tried-and-true winning formats : chronological and functional
  • The chronological format
  • A chronological format worked for David
  • The functional format
  • A functional format helped Grace get a new life
  • A "wonder mom" goes back to work
  • Marching to new orders
  • Genetic variants of the two main résumé types
  • The accomplishments format
  • An accomplishments format worked for McKenzie
  • The combination format
  • Condensing 30 years of experience
  • The creative format
  • Themed résumés
  • Using specialty paper
  • The curriculum vitae (CV)
  • The dateless chronological format
  • A dateless chronological format helped Anne
  • The international résumé
  • The linear format
  • A linear format worked for Richard
  • The newsletter format
  • Some newsletter formats that worked
  • The reordered chronological format
  • A reordered chronological format helped John
  • The targeted format
  • A targeted format helped Fred
  • If it works, it's right
  • Top 10 résumé formatting tips
  • 4. The blueprint for a blockbuster résumé
  • Data bits, or contact info
  • To list or not to list your business telephone number
  • Other solutions for daytime contacts
  • Sample résumé headers
  • Three data bits
  • Four data bits
  • Five data bits
  • Six data bits
  • Seven data bits
  • Eight data bits
  • Objective, or focus statement
  • Key features, or qualifications summary
  • Professional experience
  • Skills
  • Education, credentials, and licenses
  • Affiliations
  • Publications, presentations, or patents
  • Awards and honors
  • Bio bites
  • Endorsements
  • Keywords
  • What not to include
  • Putting it all together
  • Top 10 résumé blueprint tips
  • 5. How to write great copy
  • Keywords
  • What are keywords?
  • Where to find keywords
  • How to position keywords
  • Top 10 résumé keyword tips
  • The objective or focus statement
  • Cover letter focus statement
  • Title statement
  • Traditional objective
  • Exercise for assembling a focus statement
  • The qualifications summary
  • Professional experience
  • How far back?
  • Where to find material for your job descriptions
  • How long is too long?
  • Solutions for downplaying less-relevant positions
  • Recently demoted
  • Demoted several months ago
  • Most recent position title sounds like a demotion, but isn't
  • Obscure titles
  • Skills
  • Focusing on skills worked for Jan
  • Education, credentials, licensure
  • Recent high school graduate
  • Recent college graduate
  • Degree obtained a number of years ago
  • Degree in a field different from your major
  • Degree not completed
  • Two-year degree
  • Degree equivalent
  • No degree
  • Including credentials, licenses, and certificates
  • Affiliations
  • Publications, presentations, and patents
  • Publications
  • Presentations
  • Awards and honors
  • Bio bites
  • Endorsements
  • Top 10 tips for writing great copy
  • 6. Accomplishments : the Linchpin of a great résumé
  • What's in it for me?
  • Words to woo employers
  • Buying motivator #1 : make money
  • Buying motivator #2 : save money
  • Buying motivator #3 : save time
  • Buying motivator #4 : make work easier
  • Buying motivator #5 : solve a specific problem
  • Buying motivator #6 : be more competitive
  • Buying motivator #7 : build relationships/image with internal/external customers, vendors, and the public
  • Buying motivator #8 : expand business
  • Buying motivator #9 : attract new customers
  • Buying motivator #10 : retain existing customers
  • Strategies for presenting accomplishments
  • Numbers : the universal language
  • Comparison
  • a powerful form of communication
  • ROI
  • how quickly can you deliver?
  • The company's mission statement
  • make it your mission
  • The CAR technique
  • challenge, action, and result
  • Where to find material for your accomplishments
  • Performance appraisals
  • Your career management file
  • Impact-mining : probing questions to unearth hidden treasures
  • Sifting through the accomplishments you've gathered
  • Focusing on accomplishments worked for Patrick
  • Use impact statements to portray yourself as the right fit
  • Top 10 tips for writing accomplishments
  • 7. Editing : résumé-speak 101
  • Development editing : a primer in power writing
  • Top 10 tenets of developing your résumé
  • Examples of résumé-speak
  • The keys to writing compelling copy
  • Address the needs of your audience
  • Summarize by using the ABC method
  • Focus on transferable skills
  • Résumé-speak 101
  • Deliver the goods up front
  • Start sentences with action verbs or noun phrases
  • Sidestep potential negatives
  • Give outdated experience a feeling of real time
  • Avoid an employer pet peeve : baseless personality
  • Attributes
  • Convey confidential information without giving away proprietary/trade secrets
  • Technical editing/copyediting : the mechanics of résumé-speak
  • Abbreviations
  • Acronyms
  • Active Voice
  • Articles (in absentia)
  • Auxiliary or helping verbs
  • Capitalization
  • Colons and semicolons
  • Commas
  • Commas that separate
  • Commas that set off
  • Comma trauma
  • Contractions
  • Dashes
  • Ellipsis marks
  • Elliptical sentences
  • Gender equity
  • Hyphenation
  • Numbers
  • Parallel sentence structure
  • Parentheses
  • Parts of speech
  • Passive voice
  • Periods
  • Possessives
  • Prepositions
  • Quotation marks
  • Sentence fragments
  • Slashes
  • Split infinitives
  • Tense
  • Verbs
  • Writing in the first person
  • Prune, prune, prune
  • Proof, proof, proof
  • Top 10 résumé proofreading tips
  • 8. Visual artistry : the missing link
  • Design elements
  • Create a visual pattern
  • Consistency counts
  • Use tab stops sparingly
  • Apply white space liberally
  • Make bullets work for you
  • Think in threes
  • Keep headings to a minimum
  • Segment paragraphs
  • Segmenting made Martin's résumé more readable
  • Balance is beautiful
  • Pay attention to vertical balance
  • Balancing a two-column format
  • A two-column format worked for Gail
  • Balancing a full-width layout
  • A full-width layout worked for George
  • Balancing unevenly distributed copy
  • Patricia's résumé became a good balancing act
  • Balancing impact statements
  • Justification
  • ragged right or full justification?
  • Hang it on the wall!
  • Use typefaces tastefully
  • Choosing a font
  • Fonts that buy more space
  • Use discretion in mixing fonts
  • Go easy on bold, underline, and italic
  • Establish a logical sizing hierarchy
  • Tweaking tips
  • Technical tools to create tables
  • Add white space
  • Change line height
  • Expand character spacing
  • Tricks to make text fit
  • Use bullets strategically
  • Creating bullets
  • Adding or subtracting spacing between bullets and text
  • Changing the type of bullet
  • Using the right bullet size
  • Use rule lines
  • Other graphic elements
  • Visual artistry made the difference
  • Top 10 visual appeal tips
  • 9. E-résumés, e-portfolios, blogs, social media, and profile sites
  • How people get hired
  • Résumés in MS Word .doc or .docx format as e-mail
  • Attachments or Web form uploads
  • The advantages and disadvantages of MS Word résumés for e-mail attachments and Web form uploads
  • MS Word résumé do's and don'ts
  • Do's
  • Don'ts
  • ASCII text résumés as e-mail body text or Web form upload
  • The advantages and disadvantages of ASCII résumés
  • ASCII résumé do's and don'ts
  • Do's
  • Don'ts
  • Steps for ASCII conversion
  • Converting to ASCII for E-mailing using MS Word
  • Converting to ASCII for pasting into e-forms
  • Quick cleanup of an ASCII conversion
  • How to post an ASCII résumé to a Web site
  • Web résumés, e-portfolios, and blogs
  • The advantages and disadvantages of Web résumés
  • The technical how-to's of web résumés
  • Use an online résumé-builder service
  • Do it yourself
  • Hire a pro
  • What to include in a Web résumé or e-portfolio
  • Getting on the blog bandwagon
  • Creating a blog
  • Using RSS (really simple syndication) technology
  • Marketing your blog
  • Social media sites and online profiles
  • Scannable résumés
  • Scannable résumé do's and don'ts
  • Do's
  • Don'ts
  • Applicant-tracking systems : what happens after you e-mail or post your résumé?
  • Positive aspects of applicant-tracking technology
  • Negative aspects of applicant-tracking technology
  • Conflicting advice
  • Résumés of the future
  • Top 10 technology tips for e-résumés, E-portfolios, and blogs
  • 10. Cover letters and other parts of the puzzle
  • Strategy and style
  • The value mantra
  • Sell, don't tell
  • Reveal a secret
  • The segments of a cover letter
  • The carrot
  • Example of intrigue [new graduate]
  • Example of inspirational quotation
  • Example of an interesting fact
  • Example of appeal
  • The corroboration
  • The close
  • Cover letter anatomy
  • Sticky wickets
  • To whom it may concern?
  • Missed a filing deadline?
  • Terminated from a job?
  • Relocating?
  • Request for salary information?
  • Other types of letters
  • Direct-mail campaigns
  • Writing to a recruiting firm
  • Thank-you letters
  • a chance to resell yourself
  • Other pieces of the puzzle
  • References
  • When to send references
  • When and how to ask for references
  • How to improve the traditional reference list
  • Networking cards
  • Addenda
  • LinkedIn profile
  • Do
  • Don't
  • Paper
  • Sending your cover letter and résumé
  • By surface mail
  • By fax
  • By e-mail
  • Futurist career management
  • Top 10 cover letter tips
  • Appendix A. Worksheets to catalog professional history
  • Appendix B. Survey : what executive recruiters really want in a résumé
  • Appendix C. Sample résumés by professional writers
  • Index.

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